Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 2205-2214; doi:10.3390/ijerph120202205 OPEN ACCESS
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article
Health-Related Quality of Life and Health Service Utilization in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers Chu-Hong Lu 1,2, Zhong-Cheng Luo 3, Jia-Ji Wang 1, Jian-Hu Zhong 4 and Pei-Xi Wang 1,2,* 1
2 3
4
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China; E-Mails: [email protected] (C.-H.L.); [email protected] (J.-J.W.) Institute of Public Health, School of Nursing, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China Ministry of Education-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environmental Health, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China; E-Mail: [email protected] Community Health Services Center of Liaobu, Dongguan 523401, China; E-Mail: [email protected]
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]. Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou Received: 14 November 2014 / Accepted: 13 February 2015 /Published: 16 February 2015
Abstract: Objectives: The number of rural-to-urban migrant workers has been increasing rapidly in China over recent decades, but there is a scarcity of data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health service utilization among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers in comparison to local urban residents. We aimed to address this question. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2315 rural-to-urban migrant workers and 2347 local urban residents in the Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone (China) in 2013. Outcomes included HRQOL (measured by Health Survey Short Form 36) and health service utilization (self-reported). Results: Compared to local urban residents, rural-to-urban migrant workers had lower scores in all domains of HRQOL, and were more likely to report chronic illnesses (9.2% vs. 6.0%, adjusted OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.28–2.04) and recent two-week morbidity (21.3% vs. 5.0%, adjusted OR = 5.41, 95% CI 4.26–6.88). Among individuals who reported sickness in the recent two weeks, migrant workers were much less likely to see a doctor (32.7% vs. 66.7%, adjusted OR = 0.21, 95% CI 0.13–0.36).
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2206
Conclusions: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers have lower HRQOL, much more frequent morbidity, but are also much less likely to see a doctor in times of sickness as compared to local urban residents, indicating the existence of significant unmet medical care needs in this population. Keywords: health-related quality of life (HRQOL); health service utilization; migrant workers
List of Abbreviations HRQOL: PF: RP: BP: GH: VT: SF: RE: MH: OR: CI:
Health-related quality of life physical functioning Role-physical Bodily pain General health Vitality Social functioning Role-emotional Mental health Odds ratio Confidence interval
1. Introduction The number of rural-to-urban migrants has been increasing dramatically in China over the last three decades [1,2], a result of the country’s rapid economic development and urbanization. From just 70 million in 1993, China’s rural-to-urban migrant population quadrupled to 268.9 million in 2013 [3–5]. Migrants have made a major contribution to China’s industrial development and economic growth, but they face a variety of public health and social problems [6]. The Chinese household registration system (fukou) classifies individuals as rural and urban citizens by law, and rural-to-urban migrants are classified as temporary urban residents regardless of their length of stay in cities. Employment opportunities and social welfare benefits differ according to the household registration status. Many social welfare benefits in urban areas are only available to registered urban citizens, but not to registered rural citizens who work and live in urban areas [1,2,7,8]. The household registration system serves to reduce population pressure in China's crowded cities by preventing large-scale migration of the population to cities on a permanent basis [9]. Migrants experience a variety of inequalities including long working hours, insecure employment, overcrowded and insalubrious living conditions [6,10,11]. They are generally marginalized in urban areas [12]. The health status of migrant workers is an increasingly recognized public health concern in China. Concerns for migrants' health have been centered on the consequences of dangerous working conditions with high occupational health risks, poor living conditions with crowded housing, and
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2207
limited access to clean water and sanitation [13,14]. There is a scarcity of data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health service utilization among rural-to-unban migrant workers as compared with local residents in China. HRQOL is an essential aspect of human health embedded in a physical, mental and social context [15]. We are aware of only a few limited studies on HRQOL among rural-to-urban migrants. Zhu and colleagues reported that HRQOL in rural-urban female migrant workers was lower as compared to Chinese female norms [10]. Liu et al. showed that the HRQOL among migrant workers was significantly lower than among governmental civil employees [16]. However, the most appropriate comparison group for such a study would be local residents of the same city, rather than the general Chinese population or governmental employees. To the best of our knowledge, there remains a lack of data comparing HRQOL and health service utilization among Chinese rural-to-unban migrant workers and local residents living in the same region. To address this gap the goal of this study was to evaluate HRQOL and health service utilization among migrant workers as compared to local residents in the Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone—a leading modern light industrial area in China. 2. Methods 2.1. Study Design and Participants This was a cross-sectional study performed between April and May 2013. Rural-to-urban migrant light-duty manual workers (18–59 years of age) were sampled from three light-industry factories without strong occupational health risk hazards in Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone in China—a textile manufacturer, a furniture assembler and a camera assembler. The migrant workers usually worked about 10 hours per day during weekdays, and lived in the factory area. Most of them had primary school or junior high school education. Migrant workers between 18 and 59 years of age in the three factories were sampled by a cluster randomization method. We randomly sampled 20 of 61 workshops in these factories (about 1/3 of the total). Migrants were defined as individuals who came from rural areas and had worked in the urban area for more than three months. There were a total of 2460 rural-to-urban migrant workers in the 20 workshops; 145 of them were under the age of 18 and thus ineligible. All eligible subjects (n = 2315; including 987 males and 1328 females) in the sampled workshops were recruited via face-to-face interviews by trained study personnel upon informed consent; none refused to participate. For comparisons, local residents between 18 and 59 years of age were randomly sampled in the general population through the city’s household registration system. For most families, there are three or four family members, including a married couple and 1–2 unmarried children. Only one participant within each family, usually a household host (the father or mother if available), was recruited for the interview to ensure independence of study subjects. We interviewed the first host we met in a family. They were identified consecutively and interviewed at home by trained study personnel. If a potential participant refused to participate or did not respond to the invitation, a next-door available neighbor was invited. We recruited 2347 local residents including 1040 males and 1307 females (similar to the sample size in the migrant workers study group) as the comparison group. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Board of Guangzhou Medical University. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2208
2.2. Procedures Data were collected via face-to-face interviews performed by trained study personnel. Well-trained medical student interviewers from Guangzhou Medical University collected research data using structured study questionnaires. The interviewers received training and engaged in group discussions and simulated interviews to improve their interview skills and standardize the data collection procedures. 2.3. Basic Questionnaire The basic questionnaire covered information items on demographic characteristics and health service utilization. Demographic variables included age, sex, marital status, income, medical insurance and education. Health service utilization variables included chronic diseases, recent two-week morbidity, recent two-week physician visits, conditions requiring hospitalization, and annual hospitalization. Chronic diseases in the questionnaire included hypertension, diabetes, and “other” chronic diseases. “Recent two-week morbidity” was obtained in the question “Have you been ill over the past 2 weeks?”. “Recent two-week physician visit” was obtained in the question “In the past two weeks, have you ever visited a doctor when you were sick?”. “Conditions requiring hospitalization" was obtained in the question “In the last year, have you had conditions where hospitalization was recommended by a doctor?”. “Annual hospitalization” was obtained in the question “In the last year, have you been hospitalized?”. 2.4. SF-36 Questionnaire The participants were asked to evaluate their HRQOL using the Chinese version of the Health Survey Short Form (SF-36), which was translated from the standard English version of SF-36. The SF-36 questionnaire showed satisfactory construction and clinical validity and internal consistency for measuring HRQOL [17–19]. It comprises 36 questions about various aspects of health covering eight domains: four in the area of physical health (PCS, Physical Component Summary) including physical functioning (PF, limitations in physical activities such as bathing or dressing because of health problems, a total of 10 items), physical roles (RP, limitations in usual role activities such as work or other daily activities because of physical health problems, a total of four items), bodily pain (BP, how severe and limiting is pain, a total of two items) and general health (GH, general health perceptions, a total of five items); four in the area of mental health (MCS, Mental Component Summary) including vitality (VT, feeling full of energy vs. feeling tired and worn out, a total of four items), social functioning (SF, limitations in social activities because of physical or emotional problems, a total of 2 items), role-emotional (RE, limitations in usual role activities such as work or other daily activities because of emotional problems, a total of three items) and mental health (MH, feeling nervous and depressed vs. peaceful, happy and calm, a total of five items). Both physical and mental health scores have been empirically validated [20]. The SF-36 items were scored according to published scoring procedures, and each domain was scored in the range of 0–100. Higher scores indicate better HRQOL. The MCS and PCS scores were calculated according to Lam et al. [21]
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2209
2.5. Statistical Analysis Statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 13.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). For two-group comparisons, we used independent sample t test or analysis of variance for continuous variables, and Chi square test for categorical variables. Independent-samples T test was used to compare the means of HRQOL between two groups. Logistic regression was used to evaluate factors associated with dichotomous outcomes (e.g. recent two-week physician visit, yes/no) comparing migrant workers to local urban residents adjusted for co-variables. p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. 3. Results The characteristics of study participants are presented in Table 1. As compared to local residents, rural-to-urban migrant workers were less likely to be married (p < 0.001) or to have medical insurance (p = 0.003), but more likely to have lower education levels (p < 0.001), and had lower income (p < 0.001). Table 1. Characteristics of rural-to-urban migrant workers and local urban residents in the study population, Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone, China. Variable Age (years) Sex (male/female) Marital status, married (yes) Average monthly income Medical insurance (yes) Education Primary school or lower Junior high school High school or above Chronic diseases 0 1 or more Morbidity, recent 2 weeks 0 1 or more Physician visits, recent 2 weeks 0 1 or more Conditions requiring hospitalization 0 1 or more Hospitalizations, last year 0 1 or more
Rural–to-urban migrant workers (n = 2315) 33.1 ± 8.7 987/1328 1657 (71.6%) 2992.6 ± 731.3 1986 (85.8%)
Local urban residents (n = 2347) 33. 6 ± 8.2 1040/1307 2065 (88.0%) 4814.3 ± 5839.6 2081 (88.7%)
393 (17.0%) 1367 (59.0%) 555 (24.0%）
174 (7.4%) 741 (31.6%) 1432 (61.0%)
2101 (90.8%） 214 (9.2%）
2207 (94.0%） 140 (6.0%）
pa 0.052 0.248
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article
Health-Related Quality of Life and Health Service Utilization in Chinese Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers Chu-Hong Lu 1,2, Zhong-Cheng Luo 3, Jia-Ji Wang 1, Jian-Hu Zhong 4 and Pei-Xi Wang 1,2,* 1
2 3
4
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510182, China; E-Mails: [email protected] (C.-H.L.); [email protected] (J.-J.W.) Institute of Public Health, School of Nursing, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China Ministry of Education-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environmental Health, Xin Hua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China; E-Mail: [email protected] Community Health Services Center of Liaobu, Dongguan 523401, China; E-Mail: [email protected]
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]. Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou Received: 14 November 2014 / Accepted: 13 February 2015 /Published: 16 February 2015
Abstract: Objectives: The number of rural-to-urban migrant workers has been increasing rapidly in China over recent decades, but there is a scarcity of data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health service utilization among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers in comparison to local urban residents. We aimed to address this question. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 2315 rural-to-urban migrant workers and 2347 local urban residents in the Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone (China) in 2013. Outcomes included HRQOL (measured by Health Survey Short Form 36) and health service utilization (self-reported). Results: Compared to local urban residents, rural-to-urban migrant workers had lower scores in all domains of HRQOL, and were more likely to report chronic illnesses (9.2% vs. 6.0%, adjusted OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.28–2.04) and recent two-week morbidity (21.3% vs. 5.0%, adjusted OR = 5.41, 95% CI 4.26–6.88). Among individuals who reported sickness in the recent two weeks, migrant workers were much less likely to see a doctor (32.7% vs. 66.7%, adjusted OR = 0.21, 95% CI 0.13–0.36).
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2206
Conclusions: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers have lower HRQOL, much more frequent morbidity, but are also much less likely to see a doctor in times of sickness as compared to local urban residents, indicating the existence of significant unmet medical care needs in this population. Keywords: health-related quality of life (HRQOL); health service utilization; migrant workers
List of Abbreviations HRQOL: PF: RP: BP: GH: VT: SF: RE: MH: OR: CI:
Health-related quality of life physical functioning Role-physical Bodily pain General health Vitality Social functioning Role-emotional Mental health Odds ratio Confidence interval
1. Introduction The number of rural-to-urban migrants has been increasing dramatically in China over the last three decades [1,2], a result of the country’s rapid economic development and urbanization. From just 70 million in 1993, China’s rural-to-urban migrant population quadrupled to 268.9 million in 2013 [3–5]. Migrants have made a major contribution to China’s industrial development and economic growth, but they face a variety of public health and social problems [6]. The Chinese household registration system (fukou) classifies individuals as rural and urban citizens by law, and rural-to-urban migrants are classified as temporary urban residents regardless of their length of stay in cities. Employment opportunities and social welfare benefits differ according to the household registration status. Many social welfare benefits in urban areas are only available to registered urban citizens, but not to registered rural citizens who work and live in urban areas [1,2,7,8]. The household registration system serves to reduce population pressure in China's crowded cities by preventing large-scale migration of the population to cities on a permanent basis [9]. Migrants experience a variety of inequalities including long working hours, insecure employment, overcrowded and insalubrious living conditions [6,10,11]. They are generally marginalized in urban areas [12]. The health status of migrant workers is an increasingly recognized public health concern in China. Concerns for migrants' health have been centered on the consequences of dangerous working conditions with high occupational health risks, poor living conditions with crowded housing, and
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2207
limited access to clean water and sanitation [13,14]. There is a scarcity of data on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health service utilization among rural-to-unban migrant workers as compared with local residents in China. HRQOL is an essential aspect of human health embedded in a physical, mental and social context [15]. We are aware of only a few limited studies on HRQOL among rural-to-urban migrants. Zhu and colleagues reported that HRQOL in rural-urban female migrant workers was lower as compared to Chinese female norms [10]. Liu et al. showed that the HRQOL among migrant workers was significantly lower than among governmental civil employees [16]. However, the most appropriate comparison group for such a study would be local residents of the same city, rather than the general Chinese population or governmental employees. To the best of our knowledge, there remains a lack of data comparing HRQOL and health service utilization among Chinese rural-to-unban migrant workers and local residents living in the same region. To address this gap the goal of this study was to evaluate HRQOL and health service utilization among migrant workers as compared to local residents in the Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone—a leading modern light industrial area in China. 2. Methods 2.1. Study Design and Participants This was a cross-sectional study performed between April and May 2013. Rural-to-urban migrant light-duty manual workers (18–59 years of age) were sampled from three light-industry factories without strong occupational health risk hazards in Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone in China—a textile manufacturer, a furniture assembler and a camera assembler. The migrant workers usually worked about 10 hours per day during weekdays, and lived in the factory area. Most of them had primary school or junior high school education. Migrant workers between 18 and 59 years of age in the three factories were sampled by a cluster randomization method. We randomly sampled 20 of 61 workshops in these factories (about 1/3 of the total). Migrants were defined as individuals who came from rural areas and had worked in the urban area for more than three months. There were a total of 2460 rural-to-urban migrant workers in the 20 workshops; 145 of them were under the age of 18 and thus ineligible. All eligible subjects (n = 2315; including 987 males and 1328 females) in the sampled workshops were recruited via face-to-face interviews by trained study personnel upon informed consent; none refused to participate. For comparisons, local residents between 18 and 59 years of age were randomly sampled in the general population through the city’s household registration system. For most families, there are three or four family members, including a married couple and 1–2 unmarried children. Only one participant within each family, usually a household host (the father or mother if available), was recruited for the interview to ensure independence of study subjects. We interviewed the first host we met in a family. They were identified consecutively and interviewed at home by trained study personnel. If a potential participant refused to participate or did not respond to the invitation, a next-door available neighbor was invited. We recruited 2347 local residents including 1040 males and 1307 females (similar to the sample size in the migrant workers study group) as the comparison group. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Board of Guangzhou Medical University. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2208
2.2. Procedures Data were collected via face-to-face interviews performed by trained study personnel. Well-trained medical student interviewers from Guangzhou Medical University collected research data using structured study questionnaires. The interviewers received training and engaged in group discussions and simulated interviews to improve their interview skills and standardize the data collection procedures. 2.3. Basic Questionnaire The basic questionnaire covered information items on demographic characteristics and health service utilization. Demographic variables included age, sex, marital status, income, medical insurance and education. Health service utilization variables included chronic diseases, recent two-week morbidity, recent two-week physician visits, conditions requiring hospitalization, and annual hospitalization. Chronic diseases in the questionnaire included hypertension, diabetes, and “other” chronic diseases. “Recent two-week morbidity” was obtained in the question “Have you been ill over the past 2 weeks?”. “Recent two-week physician visit” was obtained in the question “In the past two weeks, have you ever visited a doctor when you were sick?”. “Conditions requiring hospitalization" was obtained in the question “In the last year, have you had conditions where hospitalization was recommended by a doctor?”. “Annual hospitalization” was obtained in the question “In the last year, have you been hospitalized?”. 2.4. SF-36 Questionnaire The participants were asked to evaluate their HRQOL using the Chinese version of the Health Survey Short Form (SF-36), which was translated from the standard English version of SF-36. The SF-36 questionnaire showed satisfactory construction and clinical validity and internal consistency for measuring HRQOL [17–19]. It comprises 36 questions about various aspects of health covering eight domains: four in the area of physical health (PCS, Physical Component Summary) including physical functioning (PF, limitations in physical activities such as bathing or dressing because of health problems, a total of 10 items), physical roles (RP, limitations in usual role activities such as work or other daily activities because of physical health problems, a total of four items), bodily pain (BP, how severe and limiting is pain, a total of two items) and general health (GH, general health perceptions, a total of five items); four in the area of mental health (MCS, Mental Component Summary) including vitality (VT, feeling full of energy vs. feeling tired and worn out, a total of four items), social functioning (SF, limitations in social activities because of physical or emotional problems, a total of 2 items), role-emotional (RE, limitations in usual role activities such as work or other daily activities because of emotional problems, a total of three items) and mental health (MH, feeling nervous and depressed vs. peaceful, happy and calm, a total of five items). Both physical and mental health scores have been empirically validated [20]. The SF-36 items were scored according to published scoring procedures, and each domain was scored in the range of 0–100. Higher scores indicate better HRQOL. The MCS and PCS scores were calculated according to Lam et al. [21]
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2015, 12
2209
2.5. Statistical Analysis Statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 13.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). For two-group comparisons, we used independent sample t test or analysis of variance for continuous variables, and Chi square test for categorical variables. Independent-samples T test was used to compare the means of HRQOL between two groups. Logistic regression was used to evaluate factors associated with dichotomous outcomes (e.g. recent two-week physician visit, yes/no) comparing migrant workers to local urban residents adjusted for co-variables. p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. 3. Results The characteristics of study participants are presented in Table 1. As compared to local residents, rural-to-urban migrant workers were less likely to be married (p < 0.001) or to have medical insurance (p = 0.003), but more likely to have lower education levels (p < 0.001), and had lower income (p < 0.001). Table 1. Characteristics of rural-to-urban migrant workers and local urban residents in the study population, Shenzhen-Dongguan economic zone, China. Variable Age (years) Sex (male/female) Marital status, married (yes) Average monthly income Medical insurance (yes) Education Primary school or lower Junior high school High school or above Chronic diseases 0 1 or more Morbidity, recent 2 weeks 0 1 or more Physician visits, recent 2 weeks 0 1 or more Conditions requiring hospitalization 0 1 or more Hospitalizations, last year 0 1 or more
Rural–to-urban migrant workers (n = 2315) 33.1 ± 8.7 987/1328 1657 (71.6%) 2992.6 ± 731.3 1986 (85.8%)
Local urban residents (n = 2347) 33. 6 ± 8.2 1040/1307 2065 (88.0%) 4814.3 ± 5839.6 2081 (88.7%)
393 (17.0%) 1367 (59.0%) 555 (24.0%）
174 (7.4%) 741 (31.6%) 1432 (61.0%)
2101 (90.8%） 214 (9.2%）
2207 (94.0%） 140 (6.0%）
pa 0.052 0.248
